Can a Daily Cup of Coffee be a Money Saver? 52 Week Save Money Challenge Week Six

I was thinking about whether it would be less expensive for me to go out and buy a cup of coffee each day at the local coffee shop and work there, rather than stay home and work. Knowing myself well, I think that it actually would be in many cases. It could also save money for others as well. Here is my reasoning on why I would come out ahead buying a cup of coffee each day.

The first area of savings would be gas. Not being at the house all day, there would be no need to keep it heated or air conditioned. While this isn’t an issue on mild days, there would be some definite savings on cold winter days and hot summer days. The same would also apply for electricity (no lights would need to be on, my computer wouldn’t be plugged in and the radio wouldn’t be on for background music), and to a lesser extent, water. My guess is that these combined would likely cover the cost of the cup of Joe.

The area where I would end up saving is on food. I’m the type of person that if food is around, I snack on it, but if it isn’t, then I’m fine without it. It’s for this reason that I rarely buy food in bulk because the savings on the per unit item ends up being wasted because I’ll consume the food faster since it’s in the house. If I am out, I won’t consume nearly as much food as compared to when I stay home. This is where I would benefit the most in savings, and why I calculate that for me, going to the local coffee shop on a daily basis would actually be a money saver.

Of course, an even better savings option would be to go to the local library where I can use the Internet and work without having to buy anything. But I like knowing that I can go out and buy myself a warm drink, and that it will save me money in the long run.

While last week turned out to be an unexpectedly bad saving challenge week, this one ended up being better than I had anticipated it would be. I ended up getting another 4-day house sitting job this week which both earned me some extra money, and saved me money at the same time. Although these short term house sitting jobs can be disruptive to some extent by having to move around from place to place, they do end up helping my finances in a number of ways.

House Sitting

As I’ve mentioned previously, one of the nice advantages of house sitting is that I don’t need to buy food for the days that I do it. I have put a $5 savings estimate on each day (which is quite conservative) for this. Theoretically, it should also help lower utility bills (gas, electric and water) since I don’t need to use these as much as when I’m home, but I will see if those savings show up on the monthly bills when I compare them to the bills from the same month last year.

Saved: $20.00

Money Jar & Pay to Use My Car

I ended up making four trips in my car this week, meaning that I paid myself $4 for that privilege. I also had $3.27 in my change jar at the end of this week, so $3 from that will also go to savings.

Goals for the Coming Week

I have a long distance trip coming up next week, so I’ll be looking for ways to save money on that trip. A little preparation before taking off should be able to save me quite a bit over not doing any preparation at all.

One Response to Can a Daily Cup of Coffee be a Money Saver? 52 Week Save Money Challenge Week Six

This week I had two no-spend days. I had some good savings: eight dollars off a 24 oz canister of grated Parmesan cheese; four dollars off a pound of natural ground lamb.; coupon for five dollars off a grocery purchase. My last good double-digit deposit until tax-time, I figure.

$38 from grocery savings this week.

Sochi Challenge: $9 so far on the first day. Eight of those dollars came from two sisters!